Michael Jackson: Weighing Good & Evil

Today is, of course, the date of the memorial service for Michael Jackson. While vast throngs of people are weeping at their perceived loss and praising Jackson’s perceived greatness, some folks have some harsh things to say.

New York Representative Peter King has pulled no punches in his remarks. He called Jackson a pervert and has been highly critical of the hoopla surrounding his death. The gist of his view is that Jackson’s past (alleged) misdeeds outweigh the fact that he was a good singer and dancer-hence, to praise and honor him so lavishly is a mistake. King also added that the people who have died doing real good, such as soldiers, should be honored.

In general, King does make two good points. First, people should be publicly honored for doing good rather than merely entertaining people. In an interesting coincidence, I am teaching Plato’s Apology in my Intro class today. This dialogue contains the following relevant passage:

There is not any thing more adapted, O Athenians, than that such a man should be supported at the public expense in the Prytaneum; and this much more than if some one of you had been victorious in the Olympic games with horses, or in the two or four-yoked car. For such a one makes you appear to be happy, but I cause you to be so: and he is not in want of support, but I am. If, therefore, it is necessary that I should be honoured according to what is justly my desert, I should be honoured with this support in the Prytaneum.

Socrates‘ general point can be taken as this: while people are inclined to heap great honors and love on those who entertain and amuse them, our real debt is owed to those who provide the reality of happiness. That is, to the people who do more than just create illusions to amuse but change the world in better ways. While Jackson did donate some money and time to charity, his main function was as an entertainer. While he should be praised for this, the praise should be suitable to what he actually did.

Second, it is quite reasonable to take into account a person’s misdeeds when assessing him and deciding what honor and praise are fit. On the positive side, Jackson was an impressive entertainer and he did donate some time and money to charity. On the negative side, there seems to be evidence that Jackson was improperly involved with children. After all, he was acquitted of child molestation allegations in 2005 and in 1995 he settled another such case out of court-allegedly to the tune of millions of dollars. Of course, because he was acquitted and the other case was settled, it is not completely clear what he did or did not do. Naturally, the fact that he settled out of court does cast some negative light on him. But, this is hardly conclusive-sometimes innocent people do decide to settle a case outside of court. Given these facts, claiming that he did actually molest children would be problematic (and perhaps slanderous).However, these facts do provide adequate grounds for legitimate concern.

Sorting out the overall balance of a person’s life can be challenging. After all, there is no clear measure of how to weigh the good a person does against the evil they do. And, of course, the nature of the misdeeds matter quite a bit. For example, although Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior is supposed to have plagiarized some of his work, it seems clear that his good deeds massively outweighed that academic failing. Whether the misdeeds were relevant to the good a person did also matters. For example, a soldier who killed enemy soldiers to save his fellow soldiers did some wrong, but had to do that wrong (killing) to do what was right (save his fellows).

In Jackson’s case, if he did (as Peters alleges) really abuse children, then his entertainment value would certainly be outweighed by those (alleged) misdeeds. To not condemn this sort of thing would be to say that it is okay for a person to molest children provided that he entertained people. That is, of course, absurd.

Of course, some folks (such as Al Sharpton) are saying that the alleged misdeeds should be ignored and the focus should be on the good he did. While that is the sort of thing one often says of the recently departed, that seems to be the wrong approach to take. If we are going to praise a person for what good he did, then honesty and fairness also compels us to condemn the bad things he did. Naturally, the special circumstances of death do move us to correctly forgive small misdeeds and flaws. But, death does not provide a complete moral absolution.

Any good that Jackson did for children is cancelled out, ipso facto, by any harm that he may have done to a child. Not only does one deed cancel out the other, but child sexual abusers often do outwardly nice things for children as a blanket of protection in order to shield them while they abuse other children.

one important thing in this case is that people like to slander the rich and not the poor, what can anybody possibly get from a poor one…? and even if mj did abuse children, what a low sunken parents are the chandlers to accept money in place of justice. this only proves that all this child molestation stuff is a mere lie, a mere lie that was another fact that led michael to death…

A mere lie? What do you base that on? That he has money and was able to escape justice by paying off the first boy’s mother? That he is a good singer? That he has done a number of nice things for kids? (By the way, that is what pedophiles do so that society thinks they are “safe”)

He escaped justice in the second case by being lucky enough to have had a star-struck jury but he didn’t even take the stand in his own defense. If you were falsely accused of sexually abusing a child, would you refuse to pay off the mother? Would you take the stand in your own defense to fight the charges? You bet you would. Because that is what innocent people do. Guilty people pay off the accuser and they refuse to take the stand.

Michael (RIP)
I pray for your soul
the only one who knows about you is God
the rest of the world……
dont listen to them….
nobody judge you except God
and you are on hes arms…..
resquiestat in peace….
Love you……

Only God can judge a person’s soul, but God gave us all a mind and a body in order to take action against injustice and to speak about things that are not okay if it will help others. It is NOT okay to sleep in the same bed with little boys if you are a 44 year-old man, and to have a picture book of naked boys in that same bedroom (check the court documents, this evidence was found in his room). This behavior is NOT okay and we need to speak of it. Children come first. Children need protection and TRUTH. If openly declaring that grown men cannot share a bed with a little boy is considered “judging others” then God help us all.

Michael Jackson
thanks God you are not here to read this bad things
all i know if that really happen (what them said here) where the parents was?? and so send them to jail too!!!
all i know is this i believe you was and you are innocent!!!
and all i know is if you are guilty God take care off that now then you death only God nobody else !!
ALL I KNOW IS THIS: IF YOU WASN’T MICHAEL JACKSON NOBODY FOLLOW YOU LIKE BEE’S!!! AND TRY TO TAKE YOUR MONEY AWAY LIKE DOG’S!!! AGAINST THE RABBIT!!
I believe in God and i believe in Justice!!!
and i believe you treat that kid as your bro or your son.
and i believe the only one responsable here is the parents!!!! nobody else
WHERE THEM WAS!!!!???WHERE???

There is an offer on tv right now where you can get 4 Michael Jackson Lithographs for the low, low price of $10.00 but you had better act now! There is a limited supply and no more will be created when they have all been sold. Hurry!

I think people should just back off and leave Michael alon he didn’t do all that stuff to little kids,It’s just Media making him sound bad but he was a very very good person he had a sickness that caused him to turn white in his case! so he’s dead now let him rest in PEACE!!!
Okay you shouldn’t judge people beore you judge others look at all the fingers pointing back at you!!

The media had nothing to do with courtroom testimony, transcripts, comments made by the jurors, and certainly nothing to do with Michael having a picture book of naked little boys in his home. The media had nothing to do with the fact that he slept in the same bed with one boy every night for almost a year and that he gave wine to children and called it “Jesus Juice.” That, in and of itself, is blasphemy.

it’s anybody here ever have been acusse on false??
if no then no one of you understand whats going on whit Michael Jackson and hes pain,are you people eveer paid atention on hes face how sad it looks???
just look at the photos after he have been acussed
if you really smart then you can judge and be Michael Jackson Judge then you can see he seem like he was on pain but no for hes sickness hes pain was on hes soul…..